5 European, 8 Ethiopian hostages 'safe'

Afar rebels say captives linked to U.K. Embassy are in Eritrea

Reuters.
ADDIS ABABA - Five Europeans and eight Ethiopians kidnapped in remote northern Ethiopia are “unharmed and safe” in the hands of Afar separatist rebels holding them across the border in Eritrea, an Afar leader said on Friday.

Eritrea immediately repeated its denial that the captives were on its territory.

Ismael Ali Gardo, co-founder of the Afar Pastoralists Development Association (APDA), said word of the captives had been picked up and passed on by nomadic herders close to where they were being held in the Eritrean settlement of Weima.

“There are unharmed and safe and in Weima in Eritrea,” Ismael, who returned from Afar to Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa on Friday, told Reuters.

Hostages linked to British embassy
The hostages, all linked to the British embassy in Addis Ababa, were seized by an armed band eight days ago during a tour of the Afar region, one of the hottest and driest parts on earth.

As well as eight Ethiopian translators, drivers and guides, the group includes three British men, one Italian-British woman, and a French woman.

Eritrea’s Information Minister Ali Abdu rejected the report.

“We understand the concern of the families, but this event happened inside Ethiopia and it is taking place inside Ethiopia,” he told Reuters by telephone from Asmara.

“Instead of being concerned by what happened in its country and doing its best to save the lives of these innocent people, Ethiopia’s government is manipulating this unfortunate event.”

Eritrea and Ethiopia still have bitter relations over a 1998-2000 border war and routinely fire belligerent rhetoric at one another.

Abdu said Eritrea was working with elders near the Ethiopian border and exchanging information with the British government.

'They will not want to harm them'
A British embassy spokeswoman in Addis Ababa said the report was being investigated urgently.

“But we cannot comment on uncorroborated reports and would urge people to take caution over speculation which might distress the families,” she said.

Ethiopian officials declined to comment and said a statement was expected later on Friday.

Ismael said the kidnappers were from the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front (ARDUF), a group that sprung up in the 1990s to seek more autonomy for the Afar region straddling Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti.

“They will not want to harm them. They are in Eritrea but the people who took them were from Afar,” Ismael said. His information came from the reliable, traditional method of communication known as “Dagu,” he said.

Under that system, pastoralists who pass each other in the desert greet and swap news, ensuring that information travels quickly the length and breadth of the region.